


Driving One of Your Cars

by here2be



Category: Code Name Verity Series - Elizabeth Wein
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, F/F, or something
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-03
Updated: 2017-10-04
Packaged: 2018-12-23 09:20:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11986848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/here2be/pseuds/here2be
Summary: The first time Maddie saw her was in a little five episode-show on BBC. Murder mystery in a small town. Everyone knows something, yada yada, not her cup of tea, Maddie was just waiting for Top Gear. She was sorting her clean laundry with her back towards the TV when she heard a familiar voice and turned around.The detective was talking to a receptionist in a hotel. She was Scottish. Blonde.





	1. Chapter 1

"Just drive the car, Maddie. Just drive the bloody car."  
The girl in the back seat lets out a shrill laugh. The man - one of the top lawyers - has put his hand somewhere underneath her skirt. What is she, twenty? Younger than Maddie. She recognizes the man, he tried to flirt with her a couple of months ago, even winked. Who the hell winks? He seemed offended that she didn't flirt back, that middle-aged, mostly-bald tosser with his wedding ring. He probably gets off from the knowledge that she can hear them. Could see them too, if she looked in the mirror, which she doesn't. She's driving the car and collecting her paycheck each month. Paychecks are good. You don't get paychecks if you throw fancy lawyers out of their company cars and let them walk home in the rain.  
They stop outside the club, finally, but he leans forward and asks:  
"Wanna come in? Bet you could use some fun."  
The girl giggles.  
"No, thank you."  
"Allrighty, lets go then dear."  
And they are out. Oh, the relief. She has nearly an hour before she is to pick up mr Wythenshawe. She parks on an abandoned parking lot outside a closed store a couple of miles from the airport, rolls down the window and breathes in the chilly smell of rain. Digs out her phone and browses through Youtube.  
Recomended: a new clip from an American talkshow.

"And now, one of the fastest rising stars on the Hollywood sky, here to talk about her latest movie, 'The Name of the Game" - miss Verity Wallace!"  
Applause, and she enters, floating through the room in high heels and a little deep pink dress that falls in a complicated arrangement from her shoulders. 

The first time Maddie saw her was in a little five episode-show on BBC. Murder mystery in a small town. Everyone knows something, yada yada, not her cup of tea, Maddie was just waiting for Top Gear. She was sorting her clean laundry with her back towards the TV when she heard a familiar voice and turned around.  
The detective was talking to a receptionist in a hotel. She was Scottish. Blonde.  
It was a genuine accent, but not the way she usually spoke. Her usual accent: posh, educated. Maddie nearly hit the TV when the episode ended a few moments later. A sense of loss swept through her as she watched the after texts roll down the screen. She shook her head and went back to her laundry piles.  
Her first apartement, shared with a friend of her cousin. She hadn't had time for laundry until every piece of clothing she owned was dirty. Ran out of underwear two days ago, and no money either. Better put these clothes away before Emma came back and complained. Better go to bed early, job interview tomorrow. Why do you even need to be interviewed to be a mechanic? Why not just give you the tools and let you prove yourself? Interviews were not her thing. People asking her questions always made her quiet and abrasive. Tomorrow she would try to smile.  
She had trouble sleeping that night. Nervous, obviously. She watched the receptionist smile on the inside of her eyelids. She imagined rising her hand slowly, letting her fingertips follow the shape of that cheekbone. Like a physical memory. Except obviously false, because she remembered every girl she had kissed in her 20-year old life and the blonde on the TV was definitely not one of them.  
She got the job. The owner of the workshop turned out to be even more awkward in an interview that Maddie and she got the impression that he hired her simply t get out of the cramped little office. She bought a bottle of terrible white wine to celebrate and then, after spending the night with Emma and her friends in a straight nightclub where she nearly got into a fight with a woman without knowing how it happened, she sat down in front of her laptop and searched through imdb for the name of that girl, because Maddie obviously must have seen her in something else and that's why it nagged her.  
Only two other roles, tiny roles, in a tv-series she'd never seen and a film she'd never even heard of. The latter in the name of Julia Newton.  
Julia. A date and a location of birth. And oh look, she really was Scottish. Well that's that then. That should put her mind to rest. It was nearly dawn and Maddie could feel an epic headache nudge her gently in the back of her head, waiting to slip in.

Four years and three jobs later, the list of titles on imdb is long and Maddie has seen every single one, even that first series that was truly rubbish, where Verity didn't even have any lines. Maddie bites her sandwich.

"So, Verity, you play a French agent who might possibly be double-crossing someone, we just don't know exactly whom until the very last minute of the film. I was very surprised to hear you speak french, but it's actually a second language for you, isn't it?"  
"Yes, that's right. I have quite a lot of family on the other side of the Channel and growing up I spent most of my summer holidays there."  
"And it's not the only foreign language you speak."  
"No, I'm more or less fluent in german, though I've realized my pronounciation is very entertaining. I also speak a little bit of arabic and a little bit of polish. But I really do mean little."  
"You studied languages at university while you also took courses in acting?"  
"Yes. I didn't know how to choose between the subjects, so I tried to do both."  
"But now you're clearly on the path of acting."  
"I don't know, am I? It still feels very unreal."  
"Oh, I assure you it's real! And this show here with me, it's very real."  
"Are you sure? Maybe you're just tricking yourself into thinking you have a show."  
"Oh, great, now I'll be laying awake tonight questioning my own existence!"  
"I'm sorry John, I'm sure you're real! I just still have trouble beliveing that I did make it this far."  
"Do you ever worry that you'll wake up and realise it was a dream?"  
"Oh, all the time. Every morning is a delightful surprise."  
"And I expect it to become even worse for you hereafter. You've already recieved massive praise for your work and this is your first this first leading role here in America. What's next for you?"  
"I'm going to work with mr Lawrence on a project that's schedueld to premiere next summer, a very interesting story based on a real incident during the American Revolution."  
"Well, I can't wait to see it. Thank you so much for coming to this absolutely real show, and good look with your upcoming projects!"

These stupid talk shows, they never give the guests enough time to talk.


	2. Chapter 2

"Where did you put the soap refill?"  
"Bottom drawer."  
It's strange, living in Beryl's apartement. Living together. Maddie has shared several places with other people (because there is no way to afford a place on her own, not even with the wage she gets from her current job, not in London) but she's never Lived Together before and it all still feels very alien to her. But it's good, of course. Not having to spend an hour commuting just to get laid or, well, all the other stuff. She had to move out of her room last month and Beryl asked. They threw a little party to celebrate and it felt like they were getting married.  
"D'you wanna come with me or are you too tired?"  
Beryl has her jogging clothes on - a ridiculous pair of yellow sweatpants and a battered pair of sneakers that make the fashionably sporty-dressed people gape at her, and Maddie is endlessly in love with her in those moments.  
"I think I'll just lie here for a bit. Sorry."  
"Don't worry about me, kitten, I'm just thinking abut your health. They should pay you more when you're out half the night working."  
"Next time, I'll send you in to do the bargaining for me."  
"Oh you should, I'd be great. You don't work the evening on your birthday though, do you?"  
"Nope, I finish at five. Why?"  
"Oh, I just figured I'd take you out for dinner. See you."  
She plants kiss on Maddie's mouth, and leaves.  
Incoming call from Grandad. Good timing.  
"How are you doing?"  
He's gotten worse these last months. Not that he's not himself, but he's tired in a way she's never seen him before. He's alway been the one with the energy, the person who pushes the entire family forward. Even after losing his only child in a stupid, unnecessary car accident. Even after realising that his little bike shop was steadily losing money and that he'd need to shut it down if he were to have anything left for his pension. Even after realising that his grandchild and only heir would not marry some local lad and get herself a little house in Stockport, raising kids and dropping by several times a week. But now he's tired. He's going to see the doctor next week, maybe they'll give him something for his back. Gran is rather well, she's nagging him in the background and wants to know what Maddie wants for her birthday. Maddie asks for chocolate fudge, the kind she used to steal from Gran's kitchen as a child. Gran complains that she needs to grow up and start asking for adult things, like cutlery.  
"Beryl already has all those things, there's no need."  
"Yes, but" Gran starts, but Grandad interrupts her.  
They end the call and Maddie decides to make lunch so that it's ready when Beryl comes back. She's very good at this girlfriend thing. 

She indeed does finish at five on her birthday, after dropping off the Human Process Manager outside her secret lover's house. The sharp-looking woman gives Maddie an equally sharp look, as if daring her to make a comment, which Maddie of course doesn't. The potential scandal is not so much the existence of a secret lover, but the shabbyness of the neighbourhood where he lives. At least, that's what Maddie figures from Dympna's talk about what goes on in the firm.  
Dympna is the spoiled, only daughter of mr Wythenshawe, and she should neither be using the company car nor share comapy gossip with the driver but that doesn't concern her the slightest. Since no one has told Maddie not to drive the girl, she doesn't protest. Dympna is nice. Once they stopped at a kebab place and talked for an hour about flying aeroplanes. Maddie always wanted to be a pilot when she grew up, Dympna is taking lessons in secret because her father, for once, said no. Once she has a certificate and access to a plane, she'll take Maddie with her and let her try. Maddie isn't putting a lot of trust in that promise, but it sure would be great. She often dreams about flying planes. Sometimes she wakes in panic because the plane caught fire and is going down. It probably indicates that she's afraid of losing control, or something.  
In any case, she arrives at the apartment in time. Beryl is just out of the shower, her her in wet spikes.  
"You don't wanna join me?" Maddie winks.  
Damn, she winked. Who does that?  
"Oh, very tempting, but we're on a schedule."  
"Yeah?"  
"I'll tell you when we get there."

'There' is a nice Lebanese restaurant. They sit down at their table, sip their wine, and Beryl hands over a box.  
For a second, Maddie has a fluttering feeling in her chest, like she's either very excited or her intestines are trying to flee on their own. The box is pretty big, but it's also very light, and it could contain a small, highly symbolic object that Maddie doesn't know if she's ready for. She opens it and finds an envelope.  
Cinema tickets, for the Name of the Game premiere tonight.  
"This just might be the second best birthday present anyone has ever gottten me" she mumbles into Beryl's neck. "Second only because nothing will ever beat my motorbike."  
"Glad you like it. We won't be in the party or anything, but some famous people are going to be there, including Verity Wallace heerself. Though I suppose any normal woman would hesitate to bring her girlfriend to see the celebrity she fancies."  
"Oh, I don't think you're risking anything."  
"Plus, I so want to see her myself. That is a very attractive woman."  
"Maybe I'm the one who should be worried."  
"They way you clean the bathroom, you got nothing to worry about, kitten."  
They toast to that.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Maddie" Maddie says.  
> "Maddie" Verity repeats, slowly, like she's feeling the taste of the name.

They're a little late because Beryl took ages eating her ice cream with homemade chocolate sauce while Maddie tried not to look impatient. No problem apparantly, everyone is still standing in the entrance hall. It's an old cinema - the whole classical thing, red velvet, golden decorations, beautiful cendelabra. The staff are all dressed up and handing out programmes, glasses of champagne and glittery boxes filled with sweets or salty snacks.  
"Nice" Maddie says and takes a sip.  
Beryl grins.  
"I think we got some fellow dykes over there" she whispers and nods at a group of women.  
Maddie hums and wishes she would shut up. Bad thing abut Beryl: She tends to do emberassing things in public. Also a good thing about Beryl, sometimes. Don't forget that, Maddie.  
They open the doors and the audience washes into the theater like a tidal wave. Their seats are pretty far back, but in the middle. Good seats.  
"Good seats" Maddie says to apologize for her thoughts earlier.  
A man enters the stage and gives a little welcoming speech. He then asks them to give a warm welcoming to the director and actors, and the theater erupts in applause and whisteling as they walk onto the stage.  
First, there is a bald man with a big belly - must be the director. Then, there are two handsome men, one young and one old - actors, Maddie supposes, but who cares - and there she is, a small figure with her hair shining like a halo around her head and her dress floating around her lika a little grey cloud.  
"We want to thank you all for coming here tonight" the director starts, but Maddie doesn't listen, she's squeezing Beryl's hand until Beryl makes a little pained nise and shakes it free.  
"Sorry" Maddie mumbles without turning her head.  
They look like a group of friends, the people on the stage, laughing together at something the director just said. He holds out the microphone so that Verity can speak into it.  
"... so excited to hear what you all think. If it sucks, don't hesitate to tell us!"  
Everyone laughs. They leave the stage, smiling and waving.  
Lights out. 

"What do you think?" Beryl asks when the applause has died out and the audience has started to move towards the hall where there will be snacks and autographs.  
"Good. It was good."  
"Yeah, it was great, wasn't it? I love this whole cold war paranoia-vibe. Let's go get some autographs. It's silly of course, but we're gonna do it anyway, right?"  
"All right."  
"You ok?"  
Maddie laughs.  
"Yeah, I'm ok. Let's go."  
"So many people, that queue is going to be the length of Donau when we get there."  
"He said there'll be snacks."  
"I hope there's more champagne."  
There isn't, but they just so happen to end up standing directly behind the group of probably-lesbians, so Beryl's pleased anyway. By the time they reach the signing tables she's collecting phone numbers and adding people on facebook. She's like that. You know Beryl, you know everyone.  
As expected, their new friends aren't overly interested in taking selfies with the men, but they giggle and shuffle around to pose with Verity. Someone handed Maddie the phone and she squints and clicks. She her hands and suddenly Verity is looking right at her without any barriers of protection between them. Someone - Beryl - gives her a little push forward and someone else removes the phone from her hands.  
"Hello" the woman in front of her says. "I'm Verity."  
"Maddie" Maddie says.  
"Maddie" Verity repeats, slowly, like she's feeling the taste of the name.  
There is a moment of silence.  
"Would you like a picture with me?" Verity asks, smiling.  
All in all, it takes less then a minute. When they walk towards the door, Maddie can't help but to turn her head and look back. Verity is talking to some othe fans, laughing, she isn't looking their direction.  
Beryl is cheery like a kid after a birthday party.  
"Sure you don't want to go clubbing?" she asks.  
The lesbian group invited them to come along, but Maddie didn't feel like it. She's exhausted.  
"Yeah, I'm sure" she says. "Let's have some hot chocolate at home."  
"Roger that" Beryl says. "She was nice, wasn't she? Verity. And now we know she's just as hot in real life."  
Maddie frowns, but doesn't say anything.  
It's not just her looks. It's that she's such an amazing acress. The frail, quiet girl in The Next Moment, the haughty lady of Worchester Park, the intense insanity of an intergalactic pirate in Mission Black Sun, the witty celebrity in the interviews - roles and roles, each one pulling the viewer in, and beneath it all - yes, what, Maddie?  
What is it you think you're seeing?

They come home, Beryl makes hot chocolate with rum, they make out, they fall asleep. Maddie dreams of Verity. They are dancing alone in a large, empty room. She wakes up to the sound of rain and a thick sadness in her chest.


	4. Chapter 4

The rain doesn't stop and Maddie shirks her duties by not getting out to open the door for Dympna when she picks her up outside a house in Chelsea. It's early afternoon and she has finally dried after her last visit to the world outside the car. Dympna has evidently been waiting - the traffic is a mess for some reason, probably people deciding to drive instead of whatever they normally do - and she comes trotting out of the gates like her own well-bred pony the second Maddie pulls up, with a big umbrella over her head and another girl at her heels. They both tumble into the backseat giggling and dripping wet.  
"This is ridiculous! Hello, Mads, good to see you. I think I just ruined my favourite shoes. Know what, that's it, I'm going to take my next semester somewhere warm."  
"California is quite nice."  
Maddie nearly crashes into the rear of a red Jaguar.  
"Have you lost your mind Queenie? America?"  
"It's actually not that bad. You should come visit. I have a guest room now."  
"I'll wait until you got your own house, thank you. One of those big, ugly houses they have over there, with a swimming pool and everything."  
"You have a swimming pool."  
"That's not he point."  
Verity laughs.  
Dympna leans forward and asks Maddie to drop her off at her apartement.  
"And then could you please take Queenie to Marriott Marble Arch? It was Marriott, right Queenie? She's going to sign some contracts."  
"We'll see about that."  
"Oh, you'll sign, no doubt."  
Before she hurries out of the car, she says:  
"Maddie I'll call you about the flying, all right? A friend's letting me use his plane, and you have to see it."  
"Okay" Maddie says and watches her disappear, jumping between the puddles in her stilettos.  
And she's driving again. She doesn't allow herself a singe glance in the mirror at the woman in the backseat. She's just driving the car and very soon she's going to pull up outside the fancy hotel and Verity is going to leave the car, it's just down this street, then left by the bank, then right after the park, ten minutes in normal traffic.  
Maddie likes to drive without GPS, as a way of challenging herself and making the job less boring. Of course one should have as top priority to deliver the passengers at their destination in the shortest time possible and not risk taking a wrong turn, but then one is a person and not a machine. Besides, passengers are a lot more impressed when she finds addresses using only her own head, even when she has taken an accidental detour. That was mostly when she was new on the job, though. Nowadays she perfectly knows her way around the parts of London where her passengers live their lives.   
Here they are by the bank. She turns right.   
If you were going to say something, Maddie, now would be the time. But what is there to say? Tell the pretty lady in the backseat that you dreamed about her last night. That'll go well. Or just drive in silence, savouring the minutes you're breathing the same air. By all means, be ridiculous. Turn left here if you want to head for the hotel. Don't emberass yourself by looking in the mirror.  
Too late. While she waits for the traffic lights to change so she can turn right, she glances up into the mirror and meets Verity's grey gaze. 

Time passes. Seconds: definitely, minutes: maybe. Verity doesn't look away. She stares at Maddie like she's searching for something.  
Someone honks aggressively and Maddie jumps in her seat. The car is in motion again before she can think, her eyes on the road. She dares another peak into the mirror. Verity still has her eyes fixed on Maddies face.  
"Do I know you?" she asks.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> My goodness, she thinks, I'm kidnapping a celebrity. I'm kidnapping Verity.

"Well" Maddie says, but then she doesn't know how to continue.  
"Oh" Verity says "I know, you were at the premiere yesterday."  
"Yeah. Yeah, I was. Great film."  
"Glad to hear you liked it."  
She looks out the window and it seems for a moment like that was it, but then she turns to Maddie again and asks:  
"Are you friends with Dympna?"  
"No, eh, not really. I mean, she's nice and everything, but I'm just the driver."   
Then, as she realises she shouldn't try to make herself even less interesting, she adds:  
"But we hang out sometimes. She kinda hijacks the company car, including me."  
Veroty laughs. The sound fills the car and punches the air out of Maddie's lungs.  
"Sounds like her. When we were in school together, she just decided one day that we were friends and there was no way of protesting. It was great though, we got into so much trouble all the time."  
"She still does that."  
"Indeed."  
"And you?" Maddie licks her lips nervously.  
"Me? No, I'm good girl now. Haven't broken into anywhere in years."  
Maddie skillfully avoids hitting an idiot who walks into the street without warning. See, she's handling this well. She's not driving towards the hotel, though.   
My goodness, she thinks, mimicking Gran when she's upset, my goodness, I'm kidnapping a celebrity. I'm kidnapping Verity.  
"I've never broken into anywhere" she says. "Maybe I should try it."  
"Definitely! It's wonderfully exciting, especially if the warden is a terrifying old man. You, eh, whereabouts are you from?"  
"Stockport, Manchester."  
"Huh."  
There are a couple of minutes of silence. Verity looks at her watch and says:  
"Sorry, I'm really bad at directions, how far is it?"  
"Oh, not far" Maddie says, pulse racing. "Are you in a hurry?"  
"Don't worry about it. They'll wait."  
Well then. Maddie has no idea what she's doing och where she's heading. Rainy London streets pass by in a haze. She breaths calmly.  
"How long are you going to be in London?" ske asks.  
"Just a few days. I've got to head back to LA to start filming again."  
"Shame."  
What are you saying Maddie? Stop saying it.  
"Yeah, but work's work. And you?"  
"Me? I'm not going anywhere."  
"Hey, I reconize that place. Aren't we really far from where we're supposed to be?"  
"Well, we, eh. Traffic's really, yeah."  
Verity is staring at her in the mirror, frowning.   
"It shuldn't be too long now" Maddie says.  
It is, though. Maddie has no talent whatsoever for lying. Verity is going to panic and call the police.   
She doesn't. They share an uncomfortable silence for the rest of the way.   
"Thanks a lot" she says when she jumps out of the car.  
"No problem" Maddie says, but Verity is already gone.   
She probably has these things happening to her all the time, Maddie thinks. Fans behaving crazy and creepy. She might mention it in an interview. Oh, God.   
She jumps and yelps when there is a knocking on the window. She rolls down the window.  
"Look, I don't want to freak you out, but, you said sometimes Dympna hijacks you and your car and they just let her get away with it? Is there any chance - I'm way too late anyway and I really wish I could just get out of here and get some fresh air for a bit - do think there's any chance that you'd wanna drive, just, I don't know, somewhere?"  
Her hair has escaped the hairdo and is hanging loose and wet. Rain is running down her cheeks and taking the make up with it.   
"Yes" Maddie says.   
"Okay" Verity says, but she doesn't move.  
A man in a uniform comes walking up behind her.  
"I'm sorry miss, but you need to move the car to make space for other gueasts" he says.  
"No problem, she's just picking me up" Verity says, trots around the car and gets in the passenger seat.

Maddie's driving them out of London.  
"Thank you" Verity says.  
She giggles and shakes her head, squirms out of her jacket and tosses it into the backseat.  
"Do you have a motorbike?" she asks, suddenly.  
"Yes, why?"  
"Did I ever ride on your motorbike?"  
Maddie turns to look at her.  
"I've never met you" she says.  
"Of course not. I'm sorry, I think I'm mixing you up with someone else. Or I'm remembering something from a dream. I'm really doing this all the wrong way."  
"You're not."  
"Yes I am. Let's start this over. Hi, I'm Julie."  
She offers Maddie her hand.  
"Julie."  
"No, that's my name, you need to come up with another one."  
"Maddie."   
I's such a reflex, giving someone her name. But she can't keep herself from saying it again:  
"Julie."  
"Hey, you do remember me from somewhere, don't you? I'm sure we've met in passing."  
"Yes, maybe."  
She misses the lights and nearly gets hit by a lorry.  
"Whoa! Take it easy. Just drive the car Maddie, all right?"  
"All right" she says.

They stop to buy crisps and soggy sandwiches and then they find a hill to park. The rain has turned into a peaceful sizzle. Maddie digs out her purple umbrella from the trunk and they stand huddled together under it while they eat, shoulders touching.   
Maddie glances to the side and finds Julie looking at her. Julie lifts a hand. She catches a dark curl and tucks it in behind Maddie's ear.  
Maddie kisses her.

**Author's Note:**

> This is un-beta'd and if/when you find errors, I'm greatful if you tell me. The title is from a song by Lisa Miskovsky.


End file.
